In blockchain networks, and other similar technologies, it may be desirable to implement a network scheme that allows a network of untrusted nodes to maintain a shared and trusted state in such a way that makes it difficult for any one actor to hijack control of that state. For example, Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work (PoW) scheme accomplishes this by giving each node in the network an amount of control that is proportional to the processing power that the node contributes to the network. While effective, this approach has several drawbacks, including the fact that the hardware and electricity used for PoW based mining is wasted. Further, PoW based systems are vulnerable to a “51% attack” in which a bad actor that has gained control at least 51% of the processing power in the network uses that control to conduct fraudulent activities, such as double spending. The estimated cost of the hardware and electricity necessary to conduct a 51% attack on large blockchain networks is within the reach of network entities, such as mining pools and governments.